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Cupcake Competing at it’s Finest

Yesterday I participated in my first ever food competition. No I didn’t win, but I definitely had a blast trying AND I got to sample some (ok alot) of the competition after the fact. Let me tell ya, there are some pretty darned tasty cupcakes out there.

When all was said and done, the cupcake I decided to enter into the competition was a Panettone inspired cupcake with an almond buttercream frosting. Absolute heaven in a wrapper I tell ya. The road to that cupcake was littered with a host of other cupcake attempts along the way. Let me lay out a sugar trail for you to follow.
First there was the browned butter cupcake with chestnut flour and sweetened condensed milk (I had planned on using evaporated milk but didn’t realize I had run out) added into the batter and an eggnog whipped cream frosting.

I loved the crunchy top that formed from using the sweetened condensed milk, but the frosting was too light of a consistency for piping which I knew I wanted to do. Pretty counts when you’re being judged.

So I switched a few ingredients in the batter (trying evaporated milk in place of sweetened condensed as I had originally planned) and went with an eggnog buttercream frosting instead.

I was surprised to find that I liked cupcake attempt number one a bit better; the evaporated milk just wasn’t cutting it. The eggnog frosting was good, but a bit of a strong flavor and not everyone cares for eggnog so I decided to journey on in my search for a suitable cupcake.

I decided to switch it up all together and go a slightly different route. Panettone. I went back to sweetened condensed milk, added some dried fruit to the batter and discovered my new cupcake love. I nixed the eggnog buttercream and instead decided on an almond buttercream.

I’m not sure what possessed me, but at the last minute I stirred a bit of homemade whipped cream into the frosting. Delicious, delicious, delicious, but not pipable. So, I baked up one final batch and settled on a panettone cupcake with an almond butter cream frosting. My neighbors said it was the best cupcake they’ve ever had. And get this, Nick actually ate an entire slice of quiche last night in order to get one these puppies on his plate for dessert. The kid detests eggs. Now that, is a compliment of the highest magnitude.

So without further ado, I present to you, the panettone cupcake with almond butter cream frosting.

Comments

Julie, How exciting! I’m sorry you didn’t win, but I’m so thrilled for you to have even competed! You’ve poured so much effort into these cupcakes, what a gift that you are sharing them with us!!! Have a wonderful {and hopefully now relaxing} start to your week Friend! Merry Christmas…

Price makes perfect as they say. I think I will go with the panettone cupcake, I am not an eggnog friend either. Your frosting looks absolutely perfect and its texture is exactly as it should be above a cupcake. Getting your child eat a piece of quiche in order to get one of these, is definitely a huge success.

This must’ve been a lot of fun. Sorry you didn’t win but hey! You’re always a winner to me! Love the cupcake and how moist it looks. Love the decoration too. What a wonderful experince you’ve got there.

I am so glad that I can bring out the flavors of panettone in a cupcake using your recipe.The sprinkles make the cupcake so festive.Thanks for sharing the pictures and this is sure a winner post from you.

Im sorry u didn win with these delicious creation but loveee ur spirit!
And love the addition of Chestnuts here!
And ur addition of fruits make it so rite for the season!
And the buttercream is oh so good!
happy hols with love and Merry Christmas!